Olympic hopeful Cavendish wins fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia
Britain's Mark Cavendish won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia in a sprint finish in Catanzaro. Cavendish finished the 183km stage in four hours, 49 minutes and nine seconds to secure his first-ever Giro win.
The Olympic medal hopeful passed Italy's Daniele Bennati and held off Germany's Robert Forster in the sprint.
"This is my finest victory," the delighted Brit said. "In terms of the sprinters' hierarchy I reckon I'm among the best."
Liquigas' Italian rider Franco Pellizotti retained the overall leader's pink jersey.
The stage victory was Cavendish's fifth in an event-filled season, adding to the gold medal in the madison in the Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester in March.
The peloton caught up with Cofidis' Rik Verbrugghe, who had ridden 164kms (102 miles) in a solo breakaway, 20kms (12 miles) from the finishing line to sprint clear of his rivals.
And the 22-year-old Cavendish timed his move to perfection, avoiding a home-straight crash before powering past the stage-three winner, Bennati.
"It was the result of my team's work which kept me surrounded over the last 20km," said Cavendish.
"The wind was blowing hard and Bennati went off at a good time, but I was able to follow him and overtake him.
Cavendish becomes only the third British winner of a Giro stage, and the first in 21 years, since Robert Millar in 1987.
Englishman Vic Denson was the first Briton to win a stage, in 1966.
Wednesday's fifth stage is a 203km run between Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme near Salerno.
1 Comments
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Posted by Kellie – 13 May 2008, 10:19 PM
It's about time the Brits win another one! I hope he can pull it off at the next stage, that'll be awesome for Britain.